Sick Venezuelans in Cuba under oil-for-medicine deal

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Fifty Venezuelans with illnesses ranging from drug addiction to bone cancer arrived in Cuba on Thursday to receive free treatment under a new program in which Cuba will pay in part for oil supplies from Venezuela by providing medical services.

The Venezuelans were the first to benefit from the cooperation accord signed last month by Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

In a deal aimed at solving Cuba's chronic fuel shortages and cash-flow problems, Havana is allowed to pay partly in goods and services for the 53,000 barrels a day being sent to the Caribbean island by oil-producing Venezuela.

The Venezuelan patients who arrived on Thursday will mostly stay at the Havana health spa that for most of this year housed Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, who nearly died from heart problems linked to drug and alcohol abuse.

Cuba's health system is regarded as one of the best in the Third World, and Castro considers it among the greatest achievements of his government since the 1959 Cuban Revolution.

But since the Soviet collapse a decade ago, Cubans have been experiencing a shortage of medicines due to the communist-run island's economic crisis.

The Cuba-Venezuela cooperation accord underlined the strong personal friendship and political alliance between Castro and Chavez, a left-leaning populist who was just 4 years old at the time of Cuba's revolution.

Chavez's critics say he wants to take Venezuela down the same communist path as Cuba, something he strongly denies.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Castro signs oil assistance pact with Venezuela
October 30, 2000
Stunned by rural poverty, Castro urges Venezuelans to back Chavez
October 29, 2000
Castro's arrival in Venezuela brings praise and protest
October 26, 2000
Honors and outcry as Castro set to visit Venezuela
October 25, 2000
Time: Castro makes hay in embargo's twilight
October 23, 2000
Castro leads 800,000 Cubans in march against U.S. embargo bill
October 18, 2000
U.S. Senate votes to lift Cuba trade sanctions
October 18, 2000
Venezuela's Chavez exhorts OPEC leaders to demand 'justice' from developed nations
September 28, 2000

Cubaweb
Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A.: The National Oil Company of Venezuela (Spanish, available in English)
Presidencia de la Republica de Venezuela (Spanish)
Venezuela Oil & Energy
Petroleum World: Venezuela Oil and Gas
Regional Association of Oil and Natural Gas Companies in Latin America and the Caribbean

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.